Visitors can't stop tweeting

Jul. 16, 2012

Starlings fly across the sky in large numbers in the Ozarks. Dean Curtis/News-Leader

Written by

There have been a lot of tweets going out from my neighborhood lately.

Not social media tweets.

These were real tweets — from birds. Starlings, to be exact.

Thousands of them blackened the early evening sky around my house last week.

According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, these European birds were first introduced to the United States in 1890 by Shakespeare fan Eugene Schieffelin who released 100 starlings in New York City’s Central Park because he wanted to introduce all birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays.

Thanks a lot. There is now an estimated starling population of 140 million.

These crazed creatures of the bird world, perhaps driven mad by the summer heat like the rest of us, flew fanatically over our houses, group swooping. They then split into smaller groups landing in different trees, filling the treetops until the branches sagged.

Once roosted, mad tweeting ensued. Soon one group emerged as the favorite and was rejoined by the other groups.

A quick Google search provided no clear answer as to why they travel en masse. One theory is that it is to deter predators. I have my own theory.

To me they resembled teenagers.

Just go to the food court at the mall. They too travel in large groups, break apart, then rejoin the group that is in the liveliest discussion.

Maybe, like teens, starlings just don’t want to miss out on what is going on with their peers. After several more rounds of swooping, landing and tweeting they left.

I thought: If only they had Facebook their need to flock would not be so great and they could lead a more solitary life.